TUMMO FIRE AND HEART DROP YOGA RETREAT

Yuthok Yonten Gonpo (ca. 1126-1202CE) is believed by Tibetans to be an emanation of the Medicine Buddha, and he translated/composed the Eight-Branch Deathless Essence—four Medicine Buddha Tantras that descended from Indian Mahayana Buddhism as the lost Buddhist version of what was known in India as the work of the famous Vāgbhaṭṭa. Yuthok travelled all over 12^th century India, Sri Lanka, Persia, and Nepal, attaining the state of Great Adept Mahāsiddha, and teaching to numerous disciples all the levels of Mahayana sutras and tantras within the context of the pinnacles of teachings and attainments, the mahāsandhi “great connection” perfection.

In this upcoming session of study and practice, Dr. Nida and Bob Thurman will expand the teachings on learning and accessing the subtle body yogas, focusing on the cultivation of the Tummo fury-fire and the yogas of the life betweens and death betweens, making new connections in two directions. First, we explore its connections with the especially efficacious Yuthok Heart Drop system of the Dzogchen incorporation of the insights of the Buddhist sciences in general and the key paths of sutra and tantra as preliminaries for the peak insight experiences. Second, we reach back on the path to connect to earlier stage yogas and even into the cycles of daily life, using Yuthok’s time tested strategies for aligning the everyday conditions of our body, speech, and mind with the buddha-field bodies, energies, and mental freedoms that comprise all beings’ evolutionary destiny of buddhahood.

Join us for this rare and precious offering, as Bob and Dr. Nida lead us through the next step of the introduction to Tummo practice, its history, and its context within Buddhist Inner Sciences, providing instruction on the foundational meditations and visualizations necessary to begin its practice. Purifying all negativity and enhancing innate bliss, the Tummo fury-fire practice is one of the Six Yoga Dharmas in Vajrayana Buddhism and is the foundation of other Tibetan yogic practices, including karmamudra, dream, and bardo yogas. Its immediate purpose is to open inner knots and stagnancies to cheer us up with better health, understanding of the human life, and compassion for others, and its ultimate purpose is to gain complete control over all body functions, resulting in the experience of continuous bliss.

Master yogi/nis Michele Loew and James Bae will provide Nine Breath Purification instruction, Tummo demonstrations, and Nejang daily yoga practices.

In this workshop you will learn:

• What yoga is, is not, and how to apply its tools to everyday life
• Why Buddhism is a scientific philosophy with value for people of all backgrounds
• How yoga and the yogic sciences were used by the Buddha and his community
• Who Yuthok Gonpo was and the secrets of his family’s longevity
• How the medical tradition of Tibet sprung from Indic Buddhism’s insights into nature
• Who were the Mahāsiddhas and what can be learned from their poetry and wild adventures
• How meditation and chakra systems act as software for mind transformation
• The role visualization has in diminishing physical, spiritual and mental suffering
• Who began the Nalanda tradition the 14th Dalai Lama is a part of and why it’s relevant today
• Where to connect with others engaging in formal Yuthok Tummo practice
• How physical yoga practice, when combined with study and meditation, creates synergy
• Non-dogmatic guided meditations & gentle yoga postures to prepare to practice Tummo

This retreat is intended as an introduction to the Tummo Yoga of Yuthok for students of Buddhism, yoga, and the holistic healing arts and sciences. Information about traditional Buddhist Vajrayana empowerment offerings and continuing study and practice will be provided at the end of the retreat. All levels welcome!

Dr. Nida Chenagtsang grew up in occupied Tibet without its intact culture wherein he would likely have had an exclusively spiritual education, but somehow he managed to find his way through general, medical, and spiritual educations and received initiation into spiritual practices from exceptional hidden treasure teachers. Mastering the Yuthok Heart Drop Treasury of exoteric and esoteric teachings during medical studies in Lhasa, he was specially initiated into the Tummo practice by a remarkable nun yogini who has renowned for surviving by using the inner fury-fire tо melt the ice formed around an unheated and exposed hut in which she was imprisoned for a number of winters by the communist authorities. After founding in his native Amdo the lay yogi organization of Ngagpos and Ngagmos, eventually Dr. Nida moved to Italy with his family. Since then he has worked as a doctor throughout Europe, Russia, China, Mongolia, India and Bhutan, and recently has established the Pure Land Farm center in Topanga Canyon near LA. THUS/Menla is lucky to host him regularly, teaching his beloved Yuthok Heart Drop medical and spiritual teachings.

Tenzin Bob Thurman is an Emeritus Professor of Buddology, Sanskrit and Tibetan text translator, an ordained Vajra Instructor and yogin with special focus on clearlight voidness, compassion, and bliss-void-indivisible intuition, also a student of Dr. Nida and his colleagues in helping students develop their understandings and abilities.

This page is for in-person attendance registration. Click here to register for Online attendance with Menla Online.

Schedule

Friday, April 19

• 3 – 6 pm Arrival & Check-in
• 6 – 7 pm Dinner
• 7:30 – 9 Welcome Program

Saturday, April 20 – Tuesday, April 23

• 7 – 8 am Early Morning Program
• 8 – 9 am Breakfast
• 9:30 am – 12 pm Morning Program
• 12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch
• 1:30 – 4 Free Time for Relaxation and Spa
• 4 – 6 Afternoon Program
• 6 – 7 Dinner
• 7:30 – 9 pm Evening Program

Wednesday, April 24

• 7 – 11 am Check-out of Rooms
• 7 – 8 am Early Morning Program
• 8 – 9 am Breakfast
• 9:30 am – 12 pm Morning Program
• 12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch & Departure

*Please note that the schedule is subject to change at any time.